No. 26 Arkansas claims region by one point, Paityn Noe wins individual title

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Arkansas claimed its 13th consecutive NCAA South Central Region team title by the narrowest of margins on Friday morning as the Razorbacks defeated Texas, 80-81, for their 28th overall region title.

This marks the closest finish in the South Central Region since Arkansas defeated Baylor, 45-46, in 2005 when the meet was held in Waco.

“It’s rewarding,” said Arkansas women’s head coach Chris Johnson of continuing the region winning streak. “Teams in this region have stepped up. So, we were fighting for our lives a little while this season.

“Kudos to the young ladies, they worked hard for this to get to this point. Also we appreciate Coach Harter coming in and giving us a nice resurgence of distance running at Arkansas. It’s been spectacular having him back around to help out in this capacity.”

Arkansas will compete in the NCAA Championships held in Madison, Wisconsin, next Saturday, November 23. This will be its 37th appearance as a team in the national championships, which includes qualifying as a team in 19 of the past 21 national championships.

“We’re looking forward to the NCAA Championships,” noted Johnson. “I think these young ladies are primed and ready to do something special.”

Razorback sophomore Paityn Noe won the individual title in 18:55.8 on the 6,000m Watts course at Texas A&M. Teammates Mia Cochran and Sydney Thorvaldson joined Noe in earning All-Region honors for placing among the top 25.

“Going in we were projected to win, but at the same time we knew it was going to be close,” said Noe. “We knew we had to run our race and run well. There was some pressure similar to the SEC meet.”

Johnson added: “Paityn is one of those athletes who is going to give it her all when she lines up each and every time. She’s worked really hard this season, placing third in the SEC meet and then winning the region meet in the fashion that she did. She’s special and we’re fortunate to have her.”

Cochran placed ninth with a time of 19:37.9 while Thorvaldson, last year’s winner, finished 15th in 19:56.5.

Finishing behind Noe were a pair of Kenyans competing for Tulane. Caroline Jeptanui placed second in 19:22.9 with Blezzin Kimutai third in 19:24.7.

By the 2k split Noe had a two-second edge on the field at 6:12.6. At the 4.1k split, Noe’s advantage had grown to 12 seconds as she led with a 13:03.1.

With a 15:49.0 at the 5k split, Noe led by 20 seconds over Jeptanui (16:08.3) and Kimutai (16:17.17). Previously this season, Noe and Cochran led the nation in a 5,000m race with a 15:56.3 at the Chile Pepper Festival held at Agri Park.

“I wanted to have a chance to feel in control of a race for once,” stated Noe. “I wasn’t expecting to be out in the front by myself leading it. I wanted to finish strong for my team and I knew they were going to back it up as well.”

Tiana LoStracco placed 26th and was the fourth Razorback to complete the course with a time of 20:20.7. LoStracco just missed earning All-Region that is awarded to the top 25 finishers.

Olivia Pielemeier covered the course in 20:21.1 to place 29th and complete the Arkansas team score. Mackenzie Rogers (40th | 20:40.3) and Chachi Gonzales (71st | 21:17.6) were the sixth and seventh finishers for Arkansas.

The Razorbacks 80 points came off a 1-8-15-30-32 finish while the Longhorns countered with a 7-12-14-26-33 for its 81 points.

Finishing behind Arkansas and Texas, who earned the automatic berths for the NCAA Championships, among the top 10 in team scoring were Tulane (107), LSU (110), SMU (119), Texas A&M (164), Lamar (171), Rice (252), Texas A&M Corpus Christi (361), and Central Arkansas (381).